captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, president trump doubles down on racist tweets aimed at four congresswomen, fueling deep divisions in the country. then our politics monday team breaks down a busy weekend on the campaign trailfrom joe biden's healthcare plan to beto o'rourke's case for reparations. and despite legalization andde iminalization, the black market marijuana industry continues to tive across the united states. >> the thing that nobody predicted is that normalization, commercialization, would be a magnet for international black market activity. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour."

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump tonight has rejected claims that he is fanning the flames of racism. he ignited a storm of criticism on sunday, in attacking four democrats in the u.s. congress-- all of them women of color. today, he stood by his tweets and said again "if you're not happy here, you can leave." on another front, the president claimed success in raids to round up some 2,000 migrants. there was little evidence that any major raids had actually

begun, but the threat raised fears in migrant communities. meanwhile, the administration declared most migrants will now n be ineligible for asylume u.s. if they pass through anotr country first. we will explore this and the president's attacks on the congresswomen, after the newsy. summ in the day's other news, u.s. customs and border patrol confirmed at 70 current and former employees are under investigation for offensive posts about migrants and wmakers. they belonged to a secret group ed facebook. it has been repohat border patrol chief carla provost was also in the group, but it is unclear if she is under investigation. a state judge in virginia today sentenced james fields to life in prison plus 419 years for a fatal attack at a white nationalist rally. the self-declared neo-nazi supporter drove into counter- protesters in chlottesville, in 2017. heather heyer was killed, and more than two dozen others were

hurt. heyer's mother said today's sentence delivers a powerful warning. >> i want itery clear in the public realm that not only d the united states hold theseti s to be quite serious, with serious consequences, but also the state of virginti is not tole them and i think that message is sent loud and clear today.ie >> woodruff:s is 22-years- old. de had already been sentenced to life in prison on l hate crime charges. forecasters warned today of continued flood dangers from the remnants of hurricane "barry." the storm opped 17 inches of rain across louisiana after making landfall this weekend. still, the state escaped the worst, and recovery began in iberia parish and elsewhere, where some businesses were left ankle-deep in water. much of louisiana and mississippi, along with swhs of arkansas, missouri and texas, faced heavy rainfall today. financier jeffrey epstein will stay in jail, at least untilay

thuron charges that he sexually abused dozens of underage girls in new york and florida. a federal judge in new york delayed a decision on bail today, as two of epstein's accusers spoke at a hearing. prosecutors said the case against epstein is getting stronger every day. there were closing arguments in oklahoma today in the first state trial against a drug maker over opioid addiction. the state charged that "johnso & johnson" understated the risks of opioids out of pure greed. the company said it aimed to help people with chronic pain. lahoma is seeking up to $17-billion in damages. the outcome could influence the fate of 1,500 similaonlawsuits. inkong: chief executive carrie lam condemned violent sunday night clashes. lyey began after thousands had protested peacefgainst an extradition bill and mainland china's influencdo storefront w were smashed, at least six policosofficers weretalized and more than

20 people were hurt. lam called today for an end to the trouble. > ( translated ): we're deeplypo grateful to thce who put their lives on the lines. they were attacked by the rioters, which is shocking. i'm here to call for all hong kong residents to respect the ru of law. >> woodruff: pro-democracy lawmakers urged both protesters and police to cut back on the force used during demonstrations. economic growth in mainland china slowed to 6.2% over the last year, the lowest rate in 26 years. beijing reported that news todaa amid tensions with the u.s. and on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained 27 points to close at 27,359. d e nasdaq rose 14 points. and the s&p 500 ad fraction. c in hawaistruction began on a long-disputed telescope project against protests todaywo

thd-renowned site on the island's highest peak "mauna kea" is a sacred place ofd worship ayer for hawaii's native community who has disputed construction there multiple times. scientists hope the telescope still to come on the "newshour," how president trump isanning the flames of racial tensions; the climate of fear amongan immi amid calls for increased ice raids; a top executive from chinese telec giant huawei on the controversial company's global reach, and much more. >> woodruff: it is a political fight that could worsen already deep divisions in our country. president trump escalates his nationalist rhetoric while democrats in congress unite around the idea of diversity. yamiche alcindor begr coverage.

>> reporter: do you think your tweets were racist, mr. president? >> not at all. not at all. >> reporter: president trump doubling down on racist tweets. today at a white house event aimed atelebrating american manufacturing, the president defended his targeting of four freshmen congresswomen of color. and he once again questioned their status as americans andd suggesave the united states. from their parents in front of an american flag. >> reporter: three of the four lawmakers had testified last friday about their visits to crowded border detention facilities. on twitter sunday, the president wrote, "why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came?" the four congresswomen: new york representative alexandria ocasio-cortez, minnesota representative illhan omar,ma ssachusetts representative ayanna pressley and michigan representative rashida talib. all four women are american citizens. three of the four were born in the u.s. >> it doesn't concern me becausa people agree with me and they can leave.

>> reporter: today, the four congresswoman pushed back. >> maybe the president just feels comfortable stoking racial divisions in this country. >> reporter: but today, the president earned a sharp rebuke from minority leader chuck schumer. >> those who fail to condemn the president are fellow travelers on the president's racist road >> reporter: earlier today, international leaders includingi british primster theresa may spoken out against the president's tweets. and now, a small but growingpu number of icans in the u.s. have begun done the same. maine senator susan collins, today called it "way over the line." and south carolina senator tim scott called it "racially offensive" and "aiming for the lowest common denominator." you find the president' tweets racist and what do you make of white nationalists praising those tweets? >> again, i don't find them racist. >> reporter:mong the president's defenders today, treasury secretary steve mnuchin and former house speaker newt gingrich.

earlier, south carolina senator lindsey graham, a close ally of the president, made silar attacks against the four lawmakers on fox news. >> well we all know that a.o.c. and this crowd are a bunch of communists. they hate israel. they hate our own country. make them the face of the future of theemocratic party, you will destroyhe democratic party. >> reporter: but en graham warned the president against questioning the lawmakers' citizenship. >> they are american citizens. they won an election.s >> reporter: tl comes as the trump administrationan nounced today that it is trying to end asylum protections for nearly everyone who tries to enter the u.s. through the b southernorder. under the new rule, anyng immigrant crosnto the u.s. from mexico seeking asylum would need to first apply for asylum in at least one other country that is not their native country. the changes comes after vice president pence, senator graham and other members of congress visited a crowded border

detention facility friday. the administration argues that it needs to stem the flow of asylum seekers entering the u.s. in a statement, the a.c.l.u. called the trump administration move "patently unlawful" and vowed to "sue swiftly." >> the climate in this country led by the president of the united states of america causes niar in the hearts of families >> reporter: commuties across the country had braced sunday for stepped up immigration raids. la publicly announced he would depo "thousands" of people. the raids have so far fallen far short ofhat scale, but are slated to last into the coming week. nm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: we wi hear from two lawmakers-- from both sides of the aisle-- on their retion to the president's comments as well as the administration's immigration crackdown. first, democratic congressman ruben gallego of arizona. he is a member of thesp congressional ic caucus.

representative gallego, thank you very much for joining us, d whyou make of the president's comments and his tweets and what he's saying in person today? >> well, look, no oneul sbe surprised. this is the president that, for years, started a rumor about our first brach president being born in africa and snuck into this country, clearly a very tracist trope he was using the stoke anger and win the conservative base and he started his campaign talking about mexicans as rapists and has continued on and on talking about a judge, questioning his loyalty to this country, so none of us should be surprised. we should be surprised at the republican party, the party that tries to claim they're a big tent and essentially they're advocating their party to this type of white nationalism this president is pushing. >> woodruff: i just want toa read jusart of what the president said. he talked about congresswoman ocasio-cortez, the other congred women.

he talout them being communist, he said they're anti-semitic, they ha israel, and then he's gone on, on several occasions, to say they hate hair -- hate their own country. he's referring to comments he said they made critical to the united states. >> the president is trying to frame conversation, dialogue people are having abhat needs to be fixed in this country, much about what theen president ofays there are things that need to be fixed in this country, but no one says the president hates his country because he wants to fix conthcen gs. though we may have certain points of view, and thothh i k the women he's questioning have different points of view, they do not hate their coury. the only reason he tries to use that is they're women of color, and if they weren't women of h colowouldn't be attacking them. he knows attacng them helps his base and distracts from the ministratio his ad you mention you're disappointed akinglicans are not spe

outout. how do you know what they believe? have you talked to them privately? >> doesn't matter, i don't care what they think about privately ls not. we're public offic what you wear on your sleeve is what you are.yo the facu're note speaking out against the president andac his t rhetoric means you are a coward and you're not representing the republicans ideals. >> woodruff: what do you think about the peoplin your district? >> the people in my district have lived through the most anti-latino rhetoric in this country considering we pased sb1070, had to live under the riewm of jan brewer who used kecism and rhetoric to sto anger. we all remember during that time, we told you toba go to mexico, and this hurts that the president is using the same rhetoric that the racists we grew up with are now using and

coirnlg more of it. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about what the presint has been talking about a number of days and that is his intention to have the government round up undocumented immigrants in a number of cities around the country, by the thousands. we have been told this was coming. did not materialize over the weekend. what does that all add up to for you? >> this is just him trying to scare two populations, mber one, the immigrant population, number two his own ppulation of trump supporters and trying to get them to believe that there'e this masmount of people that need to be rounded up. if you're under deportation orders, there is no necessi for you to declare you're going to round up people. while you're under deportation orders, i.c.e. could do this in a very professional manner and go out and get those people. the only thing many ofs worry about, to make sure i.c.e. is condting this everything in mind concerning everyone still

has constitutional duties, al we know a lot of people under deportation orders have not had a chance to speak to a judge. our concern at the end of the day is the president is using this, again, to scare people and, you know, to that degree, he has succeeded >> woodruff: well, to the extent there are people who are undocumented, who are wherever they are lieing around t country, is he not saying to ingm you should be com forward and, if you don't, we're going to hold yo really to your deportation -- to whatever ourpo ation laws are? >> i think the problem the president -- he ndesn't undersow deportation or immigration laws work. many of these men and women did not even have their day in court because they received their notice at the wrong address. so they should at least have the ability to present themselves to actually make an argument, ae what t president has actually meant to do is turn themselves in which automatically gives up their opportunity to appeal. at the end of the day, we do

believe democrats needs to have ntrol of who and who doesn't come into this country, but we need to make sure we honor our laws and part of that is due process and these immigrants have due pross. >> woodruff: what do you make of the president's efforts to tighten the interpretatioof the asylum laws in this country, apply for asylum. >> number one, it's illegal, and we will taking that to court and it will be defeated in court. two, this is him tryingo consolidate his base. many of the people on the right that help him get elected think he's succeeded when it comes to "immigration," for example he hasn't gotten th bored weurl been able to bring down illegal border crossings, which tell us a out this president, the one campaign promise he's had he ruined, almost like everything else in his career. he's broken the border and attend of the day thway to fix

it is to have democrats have s ssion reform but thas to live with. >> woodruff: con gallego, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: for a republican rspective, joined by representative james comer from kentucky. congressman comber, welcome back to the "newshour". what do you make of president trump's comments today and yesterday about theseour women of color who are membersgr of cs? >> i do not believe the president is racist. i believe th president shares frustration with members of congress, particuthose four women congressmen w for no other reason constantly criticizes the president and also congress and our country. i think there's a vel of frustration that the president has that he unfortunately tk out in probably not the best-worded tweet, but i think that the tweet's been overblown, and i think that we really need

to move on and talk about the issues icongress that the american people care about. >> woodruff: you said "unfortunately," what was it about the tweet that you think the president should not have said? >> well, there's just been the whole term racism has been thrown around in congress a lo more over the last two months than i've ever heard the word used. justast week, you had ocasio-cortez basically call pelosi racist for some of the comments she made about women of color. when you're a member of congress, when you're the presid and you get to this level, and the debate hisis contentious, and you've got an nameri electorate that's equally divided, sometimes your emotions take control and you say things that yu don't necessarily mean and sometimes things come out differently than you intende >> woodruff: you mention yourco

tituents, what are they telling you? >> i was in kentucky all weekend, i was at the airport in loyal this morning talking to a lot of people from all across my district and all across kentucky, and i can tell you my thople are not offend bid the tweet. 've become accustomed toto the president's tweets. i have told the president in conversations that i feel like he would be better served if he didn't tweet as much, but i think we all know that the president is going to continue to tweet, yat's his wa of doing things, it's gotten him this far i personally would like to see a more civil congress, a more vil tone between both parties and the national news media, but i don't think that's going to but as the people in the fhappen. district, they still strongly support the president, they support the president's agenda and they know that he sharesei frustration with a lot of the policies that tho four members of congress continue to spew. they -- it doesn't seem they can

like they're for secung the border, it doesn't seem like they are for any type of civil debate that the averrage taxpa in mic district could support. >> woodruff: you say it's noci in your view and, yet, each one of these women is a woman of color. >> right. and, you know, it's no different, in my oinion, than the national media saying, whenh they talk abou presidential debates, well, the democrat base doesn't want bernie sanders or joe biden cause they're a white male, i don't view that as racist. i don't view the president's tweets as racist. i wish the toneerbetter. but what we do hear, when i go back hom and mosof my republican colleagues hear back home is why don't you alsecure the border? why can't you all balance the budget? why don't county youll fix prescription drug prices? these are the issues that americans care about and i think there are, unfortunately, people in america who were probably

somewhat offended by the tweet but, at the end of the day, i don't think thathe tweet deserves the amount ofssre coverage it's gotten. y woodruff: one other thing, congressman, what make of the president's conversation, statements over the last number of weeks that he intends for this to be massive roundups overundomented immigrants in this country? now, we haven't seen that happen, but the president has talked about it a good deal. what do you make of that? w l, what the president is experiencing right now as witnessed by his tweets andst ements is he's frustrated congress won't support his agenda that he feels like is the same agenda he campaigned on, the same promises he made during the campaign, and he's also frustrated that the tone, especially by the four feale congresswomen who we're talk about toceay who were refer in the president's tweet, their constant trashing of i.c.e., you know, the border agent are trying to do their job to secur

the border. these facilities where we have all the migrants, they weren't build to house the number of people they're housing. they certainly weren't built to ldren.chi so those four female members of congress are constantly criticizing the president over things that really aren't hisul you know, he was elected to secure the bored. t you know, bui wall was one of the main talking points in his campaign, but yet we have an open border and we have peple coming into the united states. it's a drain on the treasury, it's a drain on law enforcement, and, you know, i think that, because of the deocrats in congress and their inaction on doing anything deout b security, the president is very frustrated and, when he gets frustrated, we know he goes to twitter. >> woodruff: congressman james comer, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: let's take a few

lyminutes to look more clot how the prospect of mass raids by immigration and customs forcement reverberate in immigrant communities. after postponing earlier raids in june, the president said last week that major arrests were expected in a number of cities, starting yesterday. bet so far, the number of people detained appears tmall. government officials are said to be pursuing about 2,000 undocumented immigrants and migrants who are no longer eligle to remain in the country after a court ordered them to beemoved and deported. today, the president claimed there were more rests over the weekend than people realize. and more could come later this week, in at least ten cities. for a sense of how targeted communities are reacting, we turn to shannon camacho. she is a coordinator with the coalition for humane immigrant rights, a group that counsels immigrants on their legal rights.m

shannon acho, welcome to the "newshour". what is your sense of how much -- how many raids there were over the weekend do you know of immigrants who were rounded up and arrested? >> first of all, thank you very much for having me. so about th weekend, i coordinate our l.a. raionds rapd re network which is a coalition of organizations, attorneys and community members that go out to t community to herify i.c.e. informant, and our staff also doese same. so over the weekend, we had not heard of these types of large-scale, mass operations that trump had been threatening our community. with we had not heard of those large-scale operations, thankfully. ever since june, we have been doing the "know your rights" information, we have been giving that information to community members so that they understand their fundamental constitutional rights, regaless of whether the operations happen in june, they happen tomorrow or they happen into the next month,

niwe're preparing our com. as of right now, we have not heard of those massive operations, but we're still keeping our community informed and our ears to the ground. at effect are the president's comments having on the people in ese communities? >> so the effect, obviously,op are afraid and, obviously, people are worried anfeel like this administration and this government is attacking them rather than protecting them. but i wonder what -- but i think what we've seen especially in los angeles and th organizing we have been doing for years and even june when thehreats first came in places, we've seen people come to us with a rsi for knowledge and information on how to protect themselves and their families and trying tode tand that this is something that is an attack against them and, so, how can they best guard themselves? so we have seen community members come to our officeto learn more about their fundamental constitutional rights, like the fact they hav e right to remain silent, that they have the right not to openf

their door i.c.e. comes to them. that i.c.e. can only have permission to enter individual's home if they have a judicial arrest warrant signe by a judge, they are coming with that information and we are equipping them with that. we are seeing the community onrt high abut be galvanized as well. >> woodruff: you're saying they're not goii intoding or attempting to place themselves in a place where they wou be found? >> mm-hmm. so in the city of los angeles and the surrounding areas, i can imagine there are probably many, many families who are afraid, and that's something very normal, but in terms of what 've seen, especially through our community members, through the rapid response networks, we have seen people really step up to the challenge, with fear, bus reminding thves they do have these constitutional rights. so we do see people prepared. we have had know your rights workshops all throughout los angeles and others have ago them throughout the sttes so

people are coming to these. io're seeing people come and ask really good que, so that's encouraging, that people are taking the know your rights information and using it. >> woodruff: i think this isan impoyou're saying this, shannon camacho, because i think many people have the impression that if people overstay what is their legal right to stay, if they have exceeded order or if they are disobey ago deportion order, many peple would look at that and say, well, they're violating the law. but you're saying, despite these orders, they have rights? >> mm-hmm, yes, and even one of the populations that trump said he was going to target were people with final deportation orders. so it sounds like it's the end-all, be-all of those people's case bus that is not e.e cas even people with final deportation orders still have to go thrgh the appeal process and immigration court, and also it is very important they speak to an immigration attorney before anything happens so they can get a legal consultation to see if there's any immigration

relief for them. so that's something that can be done at any stage. we have legal defense attorneys that provide that service to the community members and ever since june we have been telling folks come speak with us. >> woodruff: so when you ar asked to give at vice to individuals who have -- who are subject to a deportation order, what is your basic advice to them? are you saying don't open the door? what do you say to them? >> yes, we say remain silent. when i.c.e. asknsyou quest whether it be outside your door or on the street, don't give any additional information to them. close your door, don't open the door if they come to your house. again, i.c.e. needs to have a judicial arrest warrant signed by a juge with accurate information on the document, and very, very rainfall do they actually have those doumcts. it's very rare, so most of the people they don't have permission to enter a individual's homes. so we tell people close the door. the last thing we stress is ceate family plans. make sure you have designated

people in your familyr friends that are ready to activate, to eith get you an attorney or meet with your children if they need to be picked up from daycare, those are something community members can do before hand so they're prepared in case of an arrest. >> woodruff: shannon camacho, with colation for humane immigrant rights, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the "newshour," despite legalization, why the black market marijuana industry continues to thrive. plus, our politics monday team breaks down a busy wkend on the campaign trail but first, for months the trump administration has accused chinese telecom giant huawei of being a threat tu.s. national security. the fear: that if huawei equipment is used by the u.s. or by its allies, data could bech neled to china's

intelligence services. the trump administration has effectively banned huawei from u.s. networks and restricted the sale of u.s. parts to huawei. with the support of the pulitzer center, nick schrin is in ina reporting a series of stories, a he traveled to awei headquarters where he sat down with senior vice president vincent pao leads the company's western european work, and its corporate communications.pr >> vicident pence called waw whey a wholly owned subsidiary of the chinese communist party and said alhowing huawei to operate 5g could fundamentallyompromise u.s. national security. ces huawepromise u.s. or national security? >> we fulfill all the local laws in every single country. we're running opeinration170 countries for the last 30 years. there is no single accident or

idence means huawei have done something wrong in any countries. second, we state very clearly, huawei is00% private company owned by employees. i don't know why tmaere's sny rumors and suspicions and huawei's ownership. we've taken data back to china. this is a small industry. even such kind of things, it must be disedcl already. >> reporter: the founder and c.e.o., some u.s. officials believes huawei has to respond r to parquests. do they? >> that's many u.s. companies run by the former, you know, army or generals, it --

>> reporter: it's the same? he's just a normal technical engineer in the army. you cannot judge a person, you know, being just by part of his working experience. i don't feel that any influence from central government or from the army has been influenced in our daily business. >> reporter: this is a country, of course, where the communist party oversees the legal system and the ability foe businesses to businesses. does that mean that private companies, as you describe huawei, need to turn over any data for the chinese government to ask for it? >> the chinese government has been many times repeat the same message, they never asked any company to give the data back to china, and in the future, they want these as welly secofrom our records from the last 30 years, we have beene

neven asked -- if you remember then the c.e.o. and founder being asked about this question, he said very clearly he will refuse. if he cannot do, h would shut down the company. >> reporter: the other concern from the u.s. is there's a back door, that there will be information from huawepi sined off by the chinese government or chinese intelligenceu ervices. can uarantee that the information won't be siphoned off? >> if you listen carefully what the frisht government has said tn the last year, from the las eight years, the corporation is huawei, we can beure there is no backdoor in huawei's sstem. after working eleven years in the european region, i'm glad t see they have their own judgments from tex persons and the cooperation they had with huawei. we're happy to work with any partners, doesn't matter if it's u.s. or chinese or european

partners, if that is all back to a technical discussion rather than a political. >> reporter: and, so, you think the u.s. government is not willing to have tt technical discussion, it's only having a political discussion. >> up to now what we see is all political discussions, nothing real being put intceo plaor a technical debate or technical discussions. the trust that we have wih 170 countries, the journey took us almost 30 years. but it looks like the u.s. is not willing to give huawei such kind of an opportunity. >> reporter: has the u.s. efforts against huawei had any impact on that momentum that you see around the world? >> there is no major impact. firstly, all our major customers choose to still stay with huawei we don't see any customers not

using huawei anmore. we continue to support our customers and deliver our uipment to all our customers. we signed a contract with our major customers already, and this year we will deliver 15ou000 stations tside of china. i think that is the fact. >> reporter: sir, thank you very muc >> thank you. >> oodruff: as more states consider the legalization of cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use, opponents are warning that such moves actually open the door to criminal groups in a burgeoning black market. as correspondent john ferrugia from rocky mountain pbs reports, dony are looking to what happened in colofter legalization of marijuana it's the "the green rush."es on >> reporter: it is becoming almost routine across much of the country.

law enforcement intercepting marijuana products being exported to other states from colorado. in this case, a traffic stop in tennessee netted 100 pounds of processed pot, worth tens-of- thousands of dollars. in india, it was a lettuce truck headed from colorado to florida with a load of marijuana. in south carolina, it came through the mail. and across colorado, raids on illegal marijuana grow operations have increased in both rural and metrolitan areas as law enforcement tries to keep up witthe burgeoning black market. when colorado voters approved legalization of marijuana, no one imagined such an onity to cash in on illegally grown pot. >> every plant here has an r.f.i.d. tag and this is logged, seed to sale. >> reporter: chris woods is president of terrapin station, a company that cultivates and dispenses marijuana and t.h.c. products for both medical and lcreational use. and this is what aegal potne bu looks like, complete with special grow lighting. >> so, there is a perpetual cultivation cycle that is happening throughout thi facility.

>> reporter: his meticulous legal grow operations are scrutinized, tracked, and regulated by the colorado department of revenue and the state marijuana enforcement division. >> i think one othe mistakes that was made in colorado and some other states is allowing for your home cultivation. frd what we're seeing right now is a lot of cleanu the mistakes that have been made. >> i had never been in an indoor marijuana grow.ha heard about them. >> reporter: kevin merrill, the former agent in charge of's coloraffice of the federal drug enforcement administration agrees. when he first arrived in denver as a federal drug enforcement agent in 2001, large illegal marijuana grows weren't on the radar. >> most of those that i even heard about really involved, you know, a couple of individuals trying to make some product for themselves and then sellev wh extra they had to fund their operation. it was a very small, mom and pop operation. >> reporter: but when it became legal for individuals to grow both medical and recnal marijuana in colorado, federal law enforcement officials say criminal organizations saw an opportunity to illegallyrow

marijuana in plain sight in residential neighborhoods the thing that nobody predicted, that normalization, commercialization, would be a i magnet fernational black market activity. >> reporter: bob troyer stepped down last year as colorado's u.s. attorney. >> they have plumbers, they have electricians, they have front people who rent buy houses they have money people, they have ann underground ba >> reporter: so it's a lot like a corporation? >> exactly just like a corporation. >> what is this? oh my god! >> reporter: perched at th o front windowf her mom's firestone, colorado home last year, angie wright and her mother witnessed a raid in this denver. >> it was just-- holy cow! something major is going on. >> reporter: law enforcement officers rolled in and started banging on doors.my >> ood! >> i thought maybe it was just the house next door, but to finn out it washomes neither one of us had any idea. >> reporter: our invtigation

vealed the raids in firestone, colorado in march ofare part of a federal case that stard a year earlier and is linked to a web of other suburban properties across the denver metro area and beyond. our investigation documented that the d.e.ahas seized more than 78,000 plants so far, as well as more than 2,300 pounds of processed marijuana, serving almost 200 search warrants, making dozens of arrests. this is colorado's most complexa feblack market case since the state legalized recreationa cannabis14. rocky mountain pbs obtained records showing every federal black-market marijuana search warrant between 2014 and november of 2018 in which the d.e.a. seized marijuana. and there are hundreds. we plotted each address on a map, and found an increasing number of search warrants every year through 2018. and it wasn't only federal and state law enforcement and prosecutors who were taken by surprise by the boomillegal market. pe we thought that the black

market would dis. >> reporter: former colorado governor hickenlooper says the state was indeed caught off guard. he is now running for president. >> evidently it contracted and then began to expand again. d that's counter intuitive right? it is not what you would expectr >>orter: but some in the marijuana industry argue that if cannabis is legalized nationally, it would take care of t black market for good. >> if there's no demand for marijuana from other states then, you know, that there will not be the supply to meet as you know a function of business. >> reporter: but former d.e.a. ilagent in charge kevin me disagrees. would national legalization of marijuana stop the black market? >> no. you would always be able to go out there and probably find it cheaper than what you can through a state regulated business. >> reporter: local sheris say rural areas of colorado have also become a destination for out-oftate marijuana growers. law enforcement has more ground to cover with fewer officers to find the illegal grows.th an are uncovering connections to other states,

particularly florida. >> this is a trend that we've been seeing since about early 2014. >> reporter: justin miller is the intelligence chief for the d.e.a. field office mi. >> cuban drug trafficking ganizations relocating t places such as colorado, setting up operations, leaving their proxies back here in the state of florida, and producing large- scale marijuana for distribution, diversion out of colorado. >> reporter: colorado state data shows police have seed colorado marijuana in at least 34 states. and, in florida, at least 70 times between 2013 and 2017- more than every other state e st coast combined. in douglas county, colorado, ators caught this woman who said she had flown in from d florida torive a load of marijuana east. >> reporter: miller sayskelorida once rnear the top of the nation in indoor seizures at grow houses, but now it is more often imported.

>> i believe it's just the widespread perception that growing marijuana up there is less scrutinized. >> reporter: so authorities keep knocking down doors. destroying plants... and, former u.s. attorney bob troyer, putting pressure on the criminal groups. >> there are costs of doing this business that they accept and they calculate. if you are constantly increasing those costs, and increasing those risks, you do change their behavior. ag reporter: former governor john hickenloopees. >> certainly if we don't push back on it aggressively it will get worse. >> we never know at any moment real time is if 've passed a tipping point. we've made a dent and now we've deterred the behavio b >> reporter: troyer and d.e.a. officials say while enforcement may slow down the illegal business, colorado will continue to be a mor exporter of high quality cannabis for the foreseeable future. for the pbs newshour, i' john ferrugia in denver.

>> woodruff: it was another busy 20ekend on the campaign trail for the more thaandidates vying for the democratic presidential nominatio and as lisa desjardins reports, the debate on healthcare >> reporte the 2020 democratic candidates are trying to run on their own terms. >> starting over makes no sense at all. >> reporter: for former vice president joe biden, today that meant releasing hiahealth care n. it would add a so-called public- option, allowing all ame to buy into a medicare-like program run by the government. he previewed the pwen this end in new hampshire >> i admire the rest of the field, from bernie to elizabeth to kamala, who want medicare- for-all. and i would build on the affordable care act and i would

make sure there was a public option. >> reporter: that drew ire from vermont senator bernie sanders. in a tweet today, sanders knocked the former v.p., pointing to his former boss, presint obama, pointing out how obama called sanders' , edicare for all" a good idea. as for the trailis weekend a tale of key states. ten 2020 hopefuls addressed a friendly crowd in iowa sunday >> we can do better america when it comes to infrastructure! >> reporter: more than 1,000 caucus-goers turned out in balmy weather for the annual iowa progress corn feed.t with juser six months until the caucuses, candidates strove to appeal to widely. >> i want to make sure that no matter who you are, whether you live in a big city or a smallno townatter what your itckground is you can have those kind of opportuns, too. >> reporter: in the next state to vote, new hampshire big stage. instead, backyards, as candidatesorked retail politics. former texas congressman beto o'rourke pitchedis universal

early education plan at a house in manchester: >> we'll ensure that school doesn't start when you're four or five years old in kindergarten, but three or four years old in pre-k, universal across the united states of america. ( applause ) >> reporter: and in swing state of pennsylvania, in philadelphia the activist left met for the annual "netroots conference."na massachusetts r elizabeth warren was met with cheers ahead of a wide-ranging panel. >> we love you, liz! >> i love you, too! >> reporter: also confronting candidates, increased challenges from president trump-- calling democrats socialists or communists, weak on serity. in iowa, south bend mayor pete buttigieg pointeto that as a reason for democrats to stand their ground.we >> imbrace a left wing agenda, the president is going to say we're socialists and we're for open borders; if we adopt a conservative agenda, the president is going to say we're socialistsbond we're for open whers, so we might as well just stand up for at we believe in and take it from there.te >> reporr: for the pbs

newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: and here to break down the day's political news, our politics monday team. that's amy walter of the "cook opolitical report" and ho "politics with amy walter" on w- nyc radio. and tamara keith from npr. she also co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." welcome to you both. good to e you, happy monday. tam, i want to start with you. let's pick upsa where li started her report, joe biden's healthcare plan. we heard him there sum up his plan to presidentil ctenders. this is a total sh?ift what do you make of him hitting at the other contenders? >> bernie sanders has been hitting at some of his opponents as well, and there's somethingoi else on -- bernie sanders and joe biden no longer have a o lothe top of the democratic race. it would be difficult now to ca them either f them

frontrunners because there are footsteps at their heels and, in me cases, in fact, they're rris or behind kamala ha elizabeth warren. so part of what's happening here is these candidates need to fight. they are now fighting for their place. joe biden can't sit back and say, well, i'm in the lead. er -- yououch these oth know, i can't get my hands dirty. no, he has to get his hds dirty. >> reporter: he's got to get in it? >> he's got to get int and we saw it from the debates, he was terally a bunching bag where others were coming at him. he was on defensive the entire time. now he's saying i'm going on the offensive and direct this debat on the issue where he thinks he can be strongest. >> and that was onhc heae. we saw him right there, but not just those issues. i want to point you towardsa

recent "wall street journal" poll ask democratic primary voters what kind of candidate are they looking for, large scale change or incchremental ge? there's a bit more looking for the large-scale change. what does that men on what the candidates are pushing? >> and the other issue ho are the candidates in each candidate. a lot of the candidates areng fighor the 54% than the 41%. you have kamala harris, senator warren, senator sanrs. to a certain degree pete buttigieg in that 54%. biden is kind of lf himn that 41%. others are trying to do a more moderate, inc.mentum change, not the big, bold, more expensive progressive change -- amy klobuchar, michael bennett, governor john hickenlooper, none of those folks are polling near the top, they're in e single digits. i think the challenge is not

just who the voters are but who are the candidates in thola s and who fights to be at the top and how many voters are left once you split the folks up. >> reporter: speaking of divisions within the democratic party, tam, a few days ago there was a big story we were talki about the division between speaker pelosi and some of thefr youngeshmen members of congress, the women of four whoe to call themselves the squad. where are we now? >> so president trumphouse an credible ability to unit democrats against him. that said, in the press concerns that "the quad" held, there were some veiled comments directed wards nancy pelosi, i think it was ayanna pressley who said something to the effect that our squad is bigger than four people. so there were little subtle jabs there, too. but, you know,president trump used racist language in a treat tweet and then has couentto follow up. he's sort of modifying the

message a bitbut in ter of his campaign, if he could run against the squad instead of all the other people running for president, he would be glad to and, in some ways, on many days, seems like he is running against those house members rather than any of the candidates actually running for president. that's what the 54-41 number you put up, that's not just about the presidential campaign, that's also happening at the congressional leve do we do figure big bold things, that's what the squadould argue, even though they might not never get past, we need to set a marker and push for big channc, instead of pelosi and others in leadership saying we need to pass what we can get done and make real movement on issues. but i think even more fundamental than that is part of the reason trump loves playing on this issue of immigration and race and ctural issues is he pushes extreme this way, and many of the democrats, we saw this in the debate, came out on the other extme, whether it

was on issues of healthcare forp in the country illegally, almost all the candidates said they wouldllow government health insurance to cover those folks, and then decilriminalizig gal border crossings. this is where the president likes to play, which is to say you might not loe my positions on these issues, but look at at's democrats are doing, they're going to have operdn s, everyone's going to get free stuff, to make it a choice about the other side rather than a referendum on what his administration is actually doing >> that's the turf the pre wants to fight on. take a look at this gallup poll from last month, they were asking people what they consider to be the top problem for the country. immigration is now ranking higher than it ever ha i think it's up 1 percentage point from the highest point it's ever measured, measuring back to 1993. this is a bipartisaissue now, tam. what do those numbers say to you? >> what the numbers say is it is

a bipartisan issue. the numbers cover up at republicas and democratse very different ideas when they say immigration is an issue.a democrats will it's family separation, it's terrible conditions in some of these at the tension facilities for human rights, -- facilities formi ants. republicans will say it's people pouring across the borders and ms-13. it is a top concern about both parties. >> a lot of democrats i talk to say i wish the campaigns, candidates and democrats in congress would talk a lot more about healthcare. it's a top iue and where democrats have a tremendous advantage, like they did in 2018, but instead they'reg gettlled over to talk about the issues donald trump wants them to talk about on his terrain and his turf. make him, is what dem eocra me, play on the terrain more suitable to democrats. s >> the democrack more to the issues where they can win?

>> yeah, but that's really tough to do, th president will bring the attention and the media and how democrats respond to him and go forward for thet exep. >> we'll be tracking it there. amy walter, tamera keith, "politics monday," good to see you guys. >> thank you. ht woodruff: and that's the newshour for ton i'm judy woodruff. join us on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you d see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newsho has been provided by: >> babbel. a a langua that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com.

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hello, evyone. welcome to amanpour and company. this week we're dipping into the archivesknd looking bt some of our favorite interviews of the year. here's what's coming up. >>ust impressed me. he told, i love you. and he went. >> 25 years since the rwandan genocide, one woman tells us how ving birth during the slaughter saved her life. then a crash course onessons earned climbing the korea ladder. top bbc writer michelle hussein reveals the skills all womld shknow. plus, life and death in reikers officer. the former medical officerex poses their everyday horrors.